The counter-terrorism unit raided the home of the Theofilou family

(this is an old image that does not depict the police raid desrcibed in the article)

Angela Z. Ioannidou

The vengeful treatment of prisoners’ families and relatives continues and the Theofilou family is at the epicentre of this tactic, despite the law reforms enacted by Minister of Justice Nicos Paraskevopoulos that forbid the criminalization of family relations.

On Monday, 5th of October, around 2pm, 7-8 men of the counter-terrorism unit intruded the residence of the parents of Tassos and Maria Theofilou, while other officers had remained outside.

According to Mrs. Theofilou, the men were conducting a search for four hours and were disrupting and destroying everything inside the rooms. They confiscated the family’s personal computer, old mobile phones, keys and irrelevant documents such as addresses and phone numbers of friends of the family, as well as documents regarding the ownership of land and the correspondence between Maria and Tassos.

Because of the unexpected police raid, Mrs. Theofilou was forced to arrange for her two grandchildren (the children of Maria, aged two and four) to remain at a local park for four hours until the search was over.

The counter-terrorism units stated that the search was ordered by the 17th investigator who is in charge of the case of Tassos’ sister. Maria was arrested, remanded and faces serious charges for participation in an unknown terrorist organization, without any incriminating evidence at hand, except her relationship to her partner and father of her children G. Petrakakos.

After Maria Theofilou’s prosecution, her attorney, Spyros Phytrakis stated that the facts contained in the case file are not indicative that ”we are dealing with a terrorist organization”. In reference to the 36 year-old woman, he said:

None of the added evidence proves that the two guns found in a wardrobe within the house were used by the woman, or that she was aware of them being kept there, or that she committed a deliquent act. Having two children with a man who has engaged in deliquency is not a crime. That was typical of a different time in the past. I hope that the interrogation will not cause problems to the woman and the two underage children.

A similar intrusion of the counter-terrorism unit took place at an empty house owned by the family in the city of Volos.